Chandler Parsons is Gators' anti-Aaron Hernandez

Two freshmen entered the University of Florida at the same time back in 2007.

One was a football recruit; the other on the basketball team.

They knew each other and were even friends.

The football player is now getting all the attention for all the wrong reasons. He joined Urban Meyer's UF football team as a rogue freshman during that fall of 2007. He almost immediately found trouble, got into bar fight, tested positive for drugs and was questioned in a shooting. These character issues would cause him to fall dramatically in the NFL draft, and his aberrant behavior would soon prove the scouts right. He now sits in jail as an accused murderer.

His name is Aaron Hernandez.

That same fall, a home boy from Orlando joined UF coach Billy Donovan's basketball team. He was a kid who just nodded his head whenever he was told to do something, and then, by gosh, he went out and did it. And it didn't always come easy for him either. At Lake Howell High School, he won a state championship, but always sort played in the shadow of his more highly recruited teammate Nick Calathes.

He did things the right way, stayed out of trouble, worked hard and went on to become the SEC Player of the Year. He was drafted in the second round but has gone on to prove all of scouts wrong by becoming a rising star on the hottest young team in the NBA.

His name is Chandler Parsons.

"I knew Aaron (Hernandez) well," said Parsons, who just finished his second season with Dwight Howard's new team – the Houston Rockets – and was at the Amway Center on Thursday watching Houston's Summer League game. "He [Hernandez] was a nice dude and a cool kid. He was a really good basketball player, too, and would go to the gym and play with us. I am extremely shocked (about the murder charge) and certainly didn't see it coming."

Considering all of the negative publicity and mud Hernandez has splattered on their program, Gator fans badly need an alumnus now that they can delight in instead of disassociate from. Enter Parsons, who not only has made himself into a viable commodity for the Rockets; he may also be the franchise's most valuable recruiter.

According to those in the know, Parsons' persistent recruiting of Howard is one reason Dwight chose the Rockets over the Lakers. Parsons changed agents in May and went with Dan Fegan, who also happens to represent Dwight. "There is no one on the Rockets more responsible for (Dwight) in Houston than Chandler," a source close to Howard told Forbes magazine. "He (Dwight) would be in Dallas, or with the Golden State Warriors, or stayed in LA without him."

When asked Thursday how fervently he recruited Dwight, Parsons replied: "Dwight and I talked every day. He had a lot of questions and was curious. He wanted to make sure he was coming to the right place, and I just tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible. I think I was a good source for him.

"Dwight is a little like me. He's a big kid. He's fun. He's always smiling. I knew I could relate to him and we developed a really good relationship."

Obviously, Parsons must have learned well from Donovan, who has always been considered one of the most relentless recruiters in all of college basketball. If only Parsons had been around when Orlando was trying to keep Howard. Parsons grew up a Magic fan and has pictures of himself as a kid wearing Shaq and Penny jerseys. He admits even now he was a bit upset when Dwight decided to leave the Magic.

Obviously, he's not upset anymore, nor should he be. With Dwight, the Rockets are an instant contender for a championship. The only thing Parsons should be upset about is the media speculation of a few days ago that the Rockets would try to bring in free agent Josh Smith to go with Howard and James Harden and give the team a "Big Three." Has anybody considered that Parsons, who averaged 15.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, already gives the Rockets a potential Big Three?

Smith just signed a four-year deal with the Detroit Pistons for $54 million. Parsons, still on his rookie deal, is scheduled to make less than $1 million next season. When I suggested to him that he deserves a huge raise, he smiled and pointed, "You should go tell our GM that. He's right over there."

This hometown kid has made Orlando proud.

He's made Houston proud.

And, perhaps most importantly, he's made Gator fans proud.

"That means everything to me," Parsons says. "I love UF and had a great four years there. To be a product of that school and represent it and support is huge for me."

Amid the murderous scandal involving a fellow member of the 2007 freshman class, those words and the young man speaking them mean more now to the University of Florida than ever before.

mbianchi@tribune.com. Follow him on Twitter @BianchiWrites. Listen to his radio show every weekday from 6 to 9 a.m. on 740 AM.